Is Gentrification Turning London Into A Ghost Town?

Higher rents and housing prices in urban cities like London are forcing many working class communities to move out. Will these cities soon become ghost towns?


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[SeekerNetwork]

Gentrification is an issue a lot of cities are facing. Thanks for bringing this topic to light!

[Randomstuffs]

They were selling cereal in dollars?
No wonder they rioted, nobody could buy that shit

[mstislavherasymov]

now its happening to Berlin. people from new York and London are moving to Berlin because its too expensive. its losing its uniqueness

[DenorrisBanks]

This happens in america a lot. i cant even afford to stay in the neighborhood i grew up in. They're trying to turn Atlanta into another Hollywood. Eventually ill have to leave the city. Scholarships dont last forever and i refuse to pay these high prices.

[leos-redline]

in Vancouver our largest neighborhood downtown, coal harbor is completely empty its a literal ghost town when i lived there i would walk down the street and be the only person in 2 blocks and were talking about being surrounded by 40 story buildings and the cities most lavish real estate. it was bonkers and it's only getting worse.

[sachemofboston]

Gentrification is happening in Boston too. I have to drive 15 minutes to get to my grocery store because the local ones are so expensive

[Glamdeathh]

I have a feeling that most people in the comments never experienced gentrification first hand?

[joesmithery]

Same where I live they are building all these new developments and barely anyone lives in them even though they are sold out its all foreign investors from the middle east and china.

[Mrmudbone_gaming]

HIPSTERS, fucking HIPSTERS everywhere!

[bbloomfield]

I live in Brunswick, Melbourne.. Not far from Fitzroy. These two suburbs are under threat from development. Family homes torn down so that apartments no one can afford are erected. I'm in one now do to the geographical limits I'm under. However there is a lot of housing being made available for low income earners, all apartments have a different amount of rent due, based on household income. I think this is the only way forward

[ZCVG]

In London there simply is no room for social housing in central London, if you ever look at London on Google maps you'll see that there is simply miles and miles of housing all around London. Besides Camden and Clapham have always been empty at night.

[Zlervo]

Will London become a ghost town? The answer is a resounding YES. You only have to go to Docklands, the most sterile, boring area in this great city.

[hispanouruguayo]

it it easy to be solved, a law that forces to rent the empty houses, and if you don't do it, the government will have the right to rent it

[taniasmith]

Gentrification, that's happening in New Zealand. You only need to at the minimum wage verses the cost of homes in Auckland or any other area to see the growing problem.

[sicgc]

It's not actually just London, but Metropolitan Gentrification is only a section of a MUCH MUCH larger problem across the entire UK.

When it comes to the UK, there are 3 sections: the invested, the drained and the baron.

The Invested regions of the UK makes up the smallest amount of area and population: this includes Inner London, Cheshire and parts of South Central England. These areas are undergoing major investment, having more spent on them than the taxes they raise, prioritising foreign trade, executive infrastructure and other things such as gentrification.

The drained regions of the UK make up slightly less than that of the Baron but more land: Scotland, East of England, South Wales and South East England. These regions are taxed much higher, and pay more in taxes than is actually given to them. In 2015, Scotland paid £16bn more in taxes than the actual budget received, because Scotland also had to pay for project like the London Underground Project (example) yet had to take out a loan to pay for the Forth Road Bridge which it must pay back to Westminster with interest, unlike the LUP - resulting in a £15bn deficit to make up for the loss. These regions often are self-sufficient and quite wealthy as a result, which also allows them to be taxed so heavily with very little expenditure as it is done in a way to match inflation and the growth of the rest of the UK.

The Baron are those who are much poorer which includes Northern Wales, the rest of England, the 3 border constituencies of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Thus, they pay slightly less in tax but receive very little expenditure. Quite often, they rely on subsidies from the Drained Regions and also the EU. In fact, there are several NHS hospitals that are fully funded by the EU in these regions because they're allocated so little money in the budget - which is why the £350mpw argument, which was false, was so strong in these poorer regions to support Brexit. These regions also result in high dependents with low employment because of the terrible conditions they're being forced to live in with a failing infrastructure and terrible investment.

This is a growing epidemic and just shows how the wealth contrast in the UK is very severe. And now with Brexit passing, the Conservative government, which are part of the problem and are making it worse which actually benefits themselves, are abusing the Brexit win to essentially turn the UK into a hierarchy of being both a tax haven and one where the majority literally pay for the few.

[musickid]

This happens every where....and indeed it's sad

[weareorigin]

Once an area is made fancy again, rich multi-millionaires can go in and buy the buildings to use as a tax residence or vacation home. Now the street is full of empty fancy buildings. It's a problem in major cities.

[bushvo]

You guys should put your links up as youtube.com links instead of bitly links so people on mobile don't have to go back to Safari and then redirected back to the YouTube app. Just a suggestion, keep up the great content.

[Kenuptn]

thank you for noticing this issue that so many politicians have ignored for so long

[ElVindicto]

The idea of Camden becoming a ghost town is painfully depressing